Rajasthan govt announces monthly aid for senior journalists

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced monetary assistance of Rs 5,000 per month for accredited journalists aged above 62 years who have worked for at least 20 years in a newspaper.

The scheme was announced as part of a slew of welfare measures drawn up to coincide with the completion of four years by Gehlot in his second stint as the Rajasthan CM.

The assistance was being extended to senior journalists as a token of the state government`s appreciation of their work, Gehlot said during a `Meet the Press` programme at the Pink City Press Club.

Gehlot announced that Rs 50,000 would be offered from the CM`s relief fund to the families of road mishap victims instead of the present Rs 20,000.

The state government has also decided to hike the pension of war widows who lost their husbands before 1999 to Rs 1,500 from Rs 750 at present.

Gehlot said that from April 7 next year, patients at medical colleges and district hospitals could undergo tests free of cost as part of the CM`s Free Medicine Scheme.

The chief minister said girl students from the minority community studying in government schools would be given a monthly Rs 500 scholarship for technical education if their family incomes was less than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum.

The state government would foot the education bill of 1,000 select students from families with an annual income of less than Rs 2 lakh at private schools after getting them admitted in Class IX, he said.

The CM also declared that minority students pursuing higher studies or technical education would now receive a monthly scholarship of Rs 1,000.

The family income ceiling for students from Special Backward Classes to avail of pre-Matriculation Scholarships has been increased to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1,44,000, he said.

Not forgetting sportspersons, writers and artistes in the state, Gehlot also announced a special scheme wherein established figures in sports and arts aged above 62 years would get Rs 1.5 lakh.

He said the minimum wages for labourers in the state would be hiked from January 1 of next year.